Ten female game characters I’m not ashamed to show my daughter

Ten female game characters I'm not ashamed to show my daughter

Becoming a father has made me painfully aware of how women are depicted in video games.

I’ve never been blind to the medium’s crass portrayal of the feminine form and psyche. It’s impossible not to notice, for example, how many female characters in fighting games these days are burdened with back-breaking breasts governed by their own special physics algorithms, nor how these grown women tend to titter like school girls rather than utter anything of interest.

I never had a taste for it, but I was more tolerant than I should have been. I’d write it off as parody or over-the-top humour. But parody, when taken too far and for too long, just ends up becoming systemic exploitation. I’m pretty sure video games, taken on a whole, crossed that line sometime between Duke Nukem and Dead or Alive Xtreme 2.

And then along came my kid.

Like any good dad, I want her to grow up with a positive self-image and be happy with herself. She and I often talk about how girls can do anything boys can, the importance of learning how to do things yourself rather than relying on others to do them for you, and how what you think and do is usually a lot more important than how you look.

Now I find myself holding female game characters to a higher standard. I want them to embody the ideals of confidence, independence, and strength of character that I’ve tried to instill in my daughter.

She may never be interested in the games I like. All the same, I don’t want to be ashamed when she walks in the room and sees me playing a game starring sexualized, subservient female characters who exhibit none of the traits I’ve told her are crucial to being a self-assured woman.

The good news is that I think the medium is turning a corner. The Dead or Alives of the world are still going strong, but each passing year brings more female game characters who aren’t defined by their cup size. We’re seeing more smart, capable women who can take care of themselves – and maybe even save the world while they’re at it.

Here are 10 of them.

FemShep (Mass Effect)
‘FemShep’ is what folks have taken to calling the female alternative to the male version of protagonist Commander Shepard in the Mass Effect games. She’s the most compelling female character I’ve ever seen in a game. Strong-willed and authoritative, she commands respect in those around her. But she’s also believably sensitive and caring in the right circumstances. She’s a delightfully well-rounded virtual woman.

Chell (Portal)

This prisoner of labyrinthine science labs may not talk much, but she makes up for her silence with an indomitable spirit that manifests itself in her refusal to give up – or give in to tempting offerings of cake. She’s a salient example of the old adage that actions speak louder than words.

Faith Connors (Mirror’s Edge)

Cynical and rebellious for all the right reasons, Faith makes her living as a courier on the streets of a corrupt and repressive city. She gets by on her wits and considerable parkour skills while wearing the most sensible footwear you’re ever likely to see a woman wear in a game.

Carla Valenti (Indigo Prophecy)

Think of her as the game world’s equivalent of the now well-established hardboiled female investigators we see in police procedurals on TV. She’s a detective with an enviable work ethic and a knack for finding connections that others would miss. She may be a bit too obsessive to serve as a role model, but that makes her no less compelling or admirable.

Jade (Beyond Good & Evil)

She takes care of orphaned kids, has a job as a photojournalist, and moonlights as a world-saving revolutionary in her spare time, all while dressed for comfort. Would that more action/adventure game heroines had her charming, non-nonsense attitude and self-assured spunk.

Kate Walker (Syberia)

We tend to see more female stars in point-and-click adventure games than other genres (April Ryan in The Longest Journey is another good one), but Kate stands out as one of the best. A career-driven lawyer with an open mind, she proves herself a confident and wily conversationalist and an adept solver of tricky puzzles. She’s the kind of woman my wife would be friends with, which I count as a point in her favour.

Lara Croft (Tomb Raider)

She got her start as a big-boobed pin-up girl for geeky teens, but more recent incarnations portray her with realistic body proportions and a fleshed out character. Next March’s Tomb Raider reboot/origin story looks like it will portray her as a smart, adventurous, and determined young woman proficient in getting herself out of tight spots.

Claire Redfield (Resident Evil)
Capcom can’t seem to keep from at least lightly tarting up most of Resident Evil’s female cast members (some of Jill Valentine’s outfits clearly aren’t standard police issue), but there’s no denying Claire Redfield is a capable and respectable crusader against bio-organic terrorism. Calm in battle and quick to rescue those in need, she even saves her male counterparts once in a while.

Samus Aran (Metroid)

Good for Nintendo for making the intergalactic bounty hunting star of one of its earlier game series a woman, and double the kudos for having never sexualized her. In most games we rarely see more of Samus than her eyes through a helmet visor as we watch her skillfully and efficiently eliminate aggressive space pirates and alien jellyfish.

Alyx Vance (Half-Life)

A no-nonsense resistance fighter as adept with a keyboard as she is with a gun, Alyx may not be a playable character, but she’s at least as memorable as Half-Life protagonist Gordon Freeman. Her grit and emotional presence help give the story its heart, proving even games with strong male heroes can be made better by the presence of a confident, capable woman.